Spring has arrived. Hallelujah! Praise Be! I know spring has arrived because daffodils bloom in the spring and this photo was taken in my front flower bed. Yesterday it was a bud, today it’s in bloom. Two of them are in bloom, actually. And, others are budding. Spring has arrived. Hallelujah! Praise Be! Did I already say that? Sorry… I’m a bit overly excited. So overly excited that I wore sandals today. My toes have been a little chilly all day, but I don’t care. I need to do my part to encourage spring and somehow I think my painted toenails peeking out of sandals does that. I don’t know… baseball players have lucky socks… what can I say?

It was warm enough yesterday and today that I went out and cleaned a bit on the flower bed in front and the veggie garden in back. I can’t say they’re really cleaned perfectly, but they’re better. I also trimmed the rose bush in the front. Is this the right time of year to do that? I have no idea. I tried to find out online and I read that every time of year was the correct time to trim them. So, I decided I’d just do it, see how things go, and learn from my own experience.

I had lunch with Julie today at Applebees and I have now been asked the oddest question that I’ve ever seen on a survey. I’ve been asked some weird questions over the years, which would be an interesting blog post on its own, but this one takes the cake for a preprinted survey at a restaurant.

“Are you a pharmaceutical representative?”

Now, in my line of work, this is a question I can see popping up. But, it was an unexpected last question on a restaurant survey where the most probing question up to this point was what my favorite entree was. (Oriental Chicken Salad, for those of you keeping track.) I swear. I’m not making it up. There was no other question about employment – only this one. And it was certainly not an open ended one as they say in the survey biz. Wouldn’t it make more sense to just ask what I do for a living? Do they want more pharmaceutical reps? Or do they not want to serve them. If you answer yes does the Soup Nazi come in and take your food saying, “No Oriental Chicken Salad for you,” or do they bring you extra dessert. Maybe I should have lied to find out. But, I’m not a pharmaceutical rep. I know one. Does that count?

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Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more.

I’m at my office, where I will be taking up residence tonight I guess. My house is now far too cold to stay in. I’m worried about the pipes freezing, but I have no options that I can figure out to protect them. I took a shower this morning by turning on the hot water and letting the bathroom steam up first, then hopping in. It was far less miserable than I expected it to be.

The power company has now changed their minds from 1-2 days to “several days,” and have defined that to some residents as “10-14 days.” That would be Dec. 22-26 for those of you counting. Goodness knows I’m counting.

I have events scheduled at my house every day for the next week. I am cancelling things for Thursday and Friday and hoping to be surprised with power and feel sorry I cancelled. But I think it’s the safest thing to do. I cancelled Creative Sisterhood tonight – the first time in five years – we didn’t even cancel the day I got out of the hospital. But, only three of us could get together anyway.

I’m not really getting to enjoy that Christmas Tree I spent 80 hours putting together. It’s my finest one so far, too. Pity. And it seems I may not get to enjoy it at all before Christmas. That is really disheartening.

What’s really frustrating is that everyone in all directions from me has power except for two blocks, one of which is mine. We are the only ones without in the neighborhood.

But, people have it far, far worse. I can afford to eat out, while the food in my fridge sits there and rots. I don’t have children that are cold, and I have a warm place to go that even has a high speed internet connection. Nonetheless, it’s very, very frustrating.

Whenever there’s a power outtage, whether I’m involved or not, I always think it’s ridiulous that we have these lines we’re so dependent on exposed to the weather. And, of course, there is a solution, but power companies and cities are unwilling to enact it. That does mean that when they say it’s an “act of God” that that’s not really true. An act of God means it’s unavoidable and this isn’t – the lines could be buried – but they’ve chosen to not do that. But, I’m betting that no one is going to take any responsibility for it nonetheless. Poor God – blamed for every bad thing that comes along.

We’ve got a major ice storm going on in Hutchinson, Kansas, where I live.

I wanted to share some photos with you, but it’s difficult to move around town for any amount of time. There are trees and power lines across the roads in various places. As always, it’s sporadic. Last night I had no power, but one street to the north they had power.

If you look in the foreground of this photo you can see the real problem – a power line just laying across the road. I was able to drive right up to it. I turned around instead of driving over it. The road was not blocked – there are so many things like this that officials just can’t control it all. There just isn’t enough manpower to do it.

Here’s the problem in a nutshell. See how heavy the tree is? Now, look at the power line and notice it’s bowed not only from the ice, but also because a branch is balancing on it. This is not good. It’s on Sherman street in the Houston Whiteside area. Unfortunately for me, that’s very close to my house so this probably doesn’t bode well for me and my neighbors as far as power goes.

Here’s another situation in another part of town. It becomes a guessing game – which will break first – the tree or the line.

That question has been answered in many places.

There are trees on roofs

On trucks…

in yards…

and across roads…

Many times you have to back up because the road is completely blocked.

I’m in my office and downtown has power – at least at the moment. I’m recharging all my rechargeable flashlights and the zune so I have a radio.

I still have no power at home, although I understand it was on for a couple of hours overnight. That would explain why I was pleasantly surprised at how comfortably warm I was when I woke up. Unless we get power soon, that will not be the case later today. I opened the drapes to let what little sunlight there is into the house. But, it’s not really sunny – very overcast. It’s 32 and supposed to go down to 20. If it would just warm up a couple of degrees or the sun would come out it would do wonders. But, they’re saying we’re getting another inch of ice tonight.

There are 11,000 people in Reno County without power. In a county that has only about 50,000 people that’s a significant portion of the population. And that doesn’t account for the rural electric, which estimates another 4,500 are without power. Hutchinson is the county seat of Reno County. Estimates are that 70,000 are without power across the state. Repeatedly I’m hearing that Hutchinson is one of the hardest hit areas – and it would seem that Reno County accounts for a large percentage of those without power.

Of course, you can’t help but see the beauty in it, too. It would be easier for me to see the beauty if my house were warm.

Crews are out everywhere, but of course we’re all impatient. They’re not making any promises about when we can expect power. If it gets too bad, and my office continues to have power I can sleep here. There are two shelters, including one at Trinity United Methodist.

I will be leaving here soon to get something to eat. I don’t want to open my fridge so am going to go out and get some food. I will continue to update from my phone when possible. Although I’m posting this to numerous places, I only post to the blog at www.patsyterrell.com from my phone so check there for the latest.

Tags: ice storm

I took the day off to prepare for my open house tomorrow. I made a trip out for groceries and settled in to cook. Of course, a little bit ago I discovered I was out of powdered sugar so had to go back out. How could I be out of something as basic as powdered sugar? Who knows, but I was.

I’m not making as much as I usually do because I’m guessing I may have a small turn out. We are under a winter weather advisory from midnight tonight until 6 p.m. Sunday. Of course, the weather people have proven many times they can’t really predict the weather, so we’ll see if it happens. I’m just going to prepare for things being normal and hope they are.

I’m concerned about Mia. She came out for the party. She and Greg had tickets to a concert in Wichita tonight and I’m wondering if she’s going to be able to come to the party. Hopefully, we’ll know more about the weather tomorrow, but I wouldn’t want her to get stuck in a storm. It’s miserable driving in ice.

Susan already emailed saying she’s not coming, which of course I understand. It’s a three hour drive from the farm here and it looks like there’s some nasty weather between us. I haven’t heard from Mark, but I doubt he’ll come from Kansas City. It’s a pity, but of course, I have no way of foreseeing such things when I’m picking a party date. Maybe I’ll just do it again next weekend for whoever can come if this weekend is too nasty. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.

Well, I’d best go clean up the kitchen so I can wake up and start cooking again. It’s so much nicer to wake up to a clean kitchen than one that looks like someone has been cooking in it for a few hours. I’m not a tidy cook. Not at all. Those food photos I show here on occasion – if you notice they’re carefully cropped.

I think I’ll mix up a batch of fudge before I go to bed. Then the only “must do” tomorrow will be an angel food cake.

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Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more.

Today is the first official day of Autumn. I’ve noticed color creeping into the landscape. In some places, only one leaf has turned so far. In others, like this, there are a couple of trees that are much further along than their neighbors. I took this in the river bottoms near Barlow, Kentucky, a few days ago.

I just read recently that what makes leaves really pretty in the fall is not what I’ve always heard, which is a wet year. Apparently, rainfall has nothing to do with it other than if there has been enough rain to keep the trees alive. What really makes them pretty is if the temperatures have been hot enough and there has been lots of sunshine so the leaves have made lots of food over the summer. That is what gives them lots of color.

I was struck when driving through the game refuge near where I grew up a few days ago that we never really appreciate what is nearby. I have known that intellectually, but thought I was really good at avoiding the trap. However, I found myself exclaiming over how pretty things were. They’re the same things I spent more than 20 autumns with, and barely noticed. What is that part of human nature that discounts whatever is “easy” in our lives? What we have near us? Convenient?

Maybe I need to renew my vow to see the world with new eyes every day. That gives ample opportunity for finding new and different when you’re seeing things fresh. Why is that a struggle for us? Or is it only a struggle for me?

Another milestone has passed – the Kansas State Fair for 2007 has ended. Mark was down this weekend, but not feeling up to taking in the fair, which is very unusual.

He took off about 10 this morning. He had a 2:30 doctor’s appointment in KC. It’s a pity he couldn’t stay longer, but there are always so many places to be. I often have the feeling that I should be at least 2-3 places, and want to be at most of them. Unfortunately, I can only be at one at a time, and that seems to not be enough most of the time. I can’t figure out why this is, but it seems to be that way.

Tonight at dinner I was talking to Terry and Greg and we were talking about other art shows. I realized I have something all but two weekends the rest of the year. How does my life get so overscheduled when I’m consciously trying to make it not that way? But there are always things to do – from seeing the Governor at the fair to any number of other things.

I think I mentioned the Governor was here on Thursday. She always has a day when she’s at the Kansas State Fair. She kicks it off with a chamber breakfast that morning and then tours around a bit on the grounds.

The Kansas State Fairgrounds have had some major improvements in the last few years, which is great. It was in need of some updating.

Of course, there are always things that get changed that I don’t like and one of those for the faigrounds was a consolidated food court area, instead of the individual placees dotted over the complex.

But, they’ve kept the agrarian nature of the fair, which I love. I want to always be able to see jellies and giant pumpkins and such.

This year’s giant pumpkin winner was 976 plus pounds, more than 300 pounds over the record at the Kansas State Fair. There were four entries, and three of them were from families named “Stanley” in Newton. I’m guessing they’re related, but I don’t know.

And if you were wondering what champion peppers look like, here are Jim Hoover’s of Hutchinson. I need to call Jim and ask him his secret. My peppers never get more than the foot tall they are when I put them in every year. Eventually I pull them up and throw them away. Jim, on the other hand, has produced some lovely specimens.

All kinds of produce is competing…

In the last couple of years, there has been a scarecrow competition. Cindy Ward of Hutchinson won this year.

It has rained off and on all day, and has been pouring for the last few hours. Our temperature is down to 66, which is practically unheard of for central Kansas in July. Not sure how this will affect the parade tomorrow – if it’s going to continue or not. I do know it will make the fairgrounds a mess for the fireworks tomorrow night.

I have been moving things around in the house, my “usual” job these days. I’m very weary of this task and it’s barely begun.

Teresa called and asked if I wanted to go to lunch, so I took a long break and visited with her. We went to the same place Sondra and I went last night – El Potrillo. Teresa, Andrea and I ate Mexican on Friday night too. Three days in a row now.

Greg and Mark and I are trying to plan a trip together. It looks like it will really happen, so that’s going to be fun. I’m trying to juggle a ton of things right now – house and otherwise – I hope I can get it all under control.

I talked to one of the guys Jesse recommended for a handyman today. He’s coming over on Tuesday to look at the jobs. It would be good to get some help with these things. I just have too much to do on my own within the time frame.

I snapped some pix of the front flower bed today. I’m amazed at how much the morning glories have grown in only the last few days. Two weeks ago they were only about an inch tall. They seem to stay that way for a long time and then suddenly start to shoot up.

I always think I’m very optimistic when I’m putting up the six feet tall string when they’re an inch tall. But, they’re starting to grow rapidly now. One year at my old place, I started the seeds early indoors and by July 4th they were all over the front and blooming. These are all volunteer – just came up from the seed I planted two years ago. I love the convenience of that, but it would be nice for them to be further along now than they are. There’s a trade off for everything.

This is the first year I’ve ever mulched but people tell me it will keep the weeds down. I can only hope so. I have really fought with the weeds in this flower bed – and the grass.

But, it always looks so sad to see a flower bed in front of a house that’s just weeds and is neglected. It makes the whole place seem sad. I’m hoping many of these come back year after year.

I’m in love with the lime green vines. They’re not perennials, but I really love the look of them so thought I’d get some anyway. I guess next year will be the test – we’ll see what reappears.

Well, time for me to move a few more things before going up to bed. Today is the last day that my antibiotics should be working and I’m feeling good, but still get tired really easily. So, I need to try and get some extra rest.